The legal system screws free enterprise again.

“ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An enterprising Minnesota college student who drove to Iowa every weekend to buy hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that he then sold to his own customers in the Twin Cities area has been warned by the confectionary giant to stop.

There have been no Krispy Kreme stores in Minnesota for 11 years.
……
The senior studying accounting at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul said he was told his sales created a liability for the North Carolina-based company…”

https://apnews.com/03febee1c73147cf97b4cf058dd4fa87

"..created a liability.." What liability? Someone might get a stale doughnut? Diabetes?

How about no. First sale doctrine says kiss my booty. However, local health inspectors may have something to say, as might the state tax collectors, but Krispy Kreme probably can’t really do much other than make threats.

- Bret

Krispy Creme ought to help Mr. Gonzalez out by giving him first right of refusal on opening the next five Krispy Creme doughnut shop franchises in Minnesota.

Better still would be Dunkin' Donuts giving him a franchise in Minnesota.

quote:

Originally posted by Eponym:
"..created a liability.." What liability? Someone might get a stale doughnut? Diabetes?

Yeah... I don't know.
Krispy Creme isn't his partner. He's just a re-seller.

Around here, lot's of people buy Gus's Pretzels (which only has one location) and re-sell them as a fundraiser. People are willing to pay a little more for the convenience of being able to get something that otherwise would be too far away to be practicable.

He's not just a delivery driver under the control or direction of Krispy Creme. He's a re-seller.

quote:

Better still would be Dunkin' Donuts giving him a franchise in Minnesota.

His customers seem to prefer fresh donuts, not microwaved hockey pucks


Outside of refusing to sell him donuts when he shows up, I don't think they can stop him from doing what he's doing.

I could see if the state was involved for tax purposes, or health purposes. But I agree, what can Krispy Kreme do other than refuse to sell to him? Once he buys them are they not his to do with as he wishes?

A similar story - I used to sell high end bicycles wholesale to retailers. We had a new bike (10 units) land in the states. We sent them out to retailers. And a few days later, one of them ends up on e-bay, which was / is a big no-no. I find out that one of my retailers sold the bike to a consumer. This consumer is one of their best customers, who spends $30-$40K per year in their store and always paid cash. After some checking on this consumer and his e-bay account, I came to the conclusion that he was buying lots of consumer hard goods and selling them on e-bay at a loss, so he was probably laundering money. I explain the story to my boss and he directs me to tell my account that if this consumer comes in to buy anything else, they are not to sell to him. I busted out laughing. I told him that while he may not like our brand being on e-bay, if a consumer walks into a store and wants to pay retail price for a new bike, in cash, there is not a store in the entire US that would turn down the sale. And that once the consumer owns the product, it is his to do with as he wishes, whether that is resell it on e-bay, or crush it in the back of a garbage truck.

Fascinating business model: Turn down business "just because."

I haven't had a KK donut in years. Gas station up on the corner used to have 'em, but no more. I checked KK's store locater. Closest one to me is nearly seventeen miles away.

That's ok, though. I don't really need 'em.

And Dunkin' Donuts? Yeah, they're pretty bad these days. I won't go to the trouble any more.

There were guys in the 70's "bootlegging" Coors to Michigan and on their return trip to Colorado bootlegging Stroh's.

One of those guys bought a new Monte Carlo every year from the Chevy dealer I worked at, paid in cash. That was his work.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
There were guys in the 70's "bootlegging" Coors to Michigan and on their return trip to Colorado bootlegging Stroh's.

One of those guys bought a new Monte Carlo every year from the Chevy dealer I worked at, paid in cash. That was his work.

Wow, I remember Coors being a highly sought after item but had no idea Strohs(Detroit pisswater) was also in return.

Krispy Kreme allows resale as fundraisers for any number of groups. There were college kids reselling on my way to the office last week. Usually done locally but are there rules?

Kid violated the first rule of bootlegging. Don’t talk to the press. The urge for temporary fame defeated a pretty good hustle.

We used to see minivans selling KK donuts at a couple of major intersection after traveling hundreds of miles to score. Now that we have our very own KK store in town, I never see anyone in the parking lot or drive thru. I don't care for them myself.

Strange Brew

Somebody already said it and I agree, they should have helped get him set up in a franchise. He's passionate about the product, he's found a strong market for their product and he's working hard to supply the need. Could have had a huge marketing win here worth hundreds of thousands in good will and free exposure via social media, instead they botched it all up.

Interesting issue. First, what are the FDA rules regarding shipping food intra and inter-state for resale? Is college boy following those rules, and do those rules apply to the "wholesaler"? What about the state laws regarding food transportation within the state and across state lines?

If KK knows (or should know) some guy is taking their food, "shipping" it across state lines for resale without following FDA protocols, then they could be liable to someone that later got sick.

If he had kept his mouth shut, no one is the wiser, but he clearly was proud of his "gray area" enterprise and now learned a valuable lesson.

Again, it is why is KK being such a dick, without any knowledge of what the laws are. But who knows, maybe there are no federal or state laws and KK is just being a dick?

KRISPY KREME in BATON ROUGE,LA some months ago said that a local shop was closing for a re-model/ upgrade..public out cry..but demolished building and supposidly now going to build a new store schelued to reopen sometime after the first of the year....to far away and in the wrong area of town for any buisness from me.........

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
There were guys in the 70's "bootlegging" Coors to Michigan and on their return trip to Colorado bootlegging Stroh's.

One of those guys bought a new Monte Carlo every year from the Chevy dealer I worked at, paid in cash. That was his work.

Remember those days....my first semester at A&M, the kids from Dallas and Houston would sat around the apartment pool with their Coors stacked up to show their coolness, by the second/third weekend they're drinking the generic bargain brands, then we all discovered Shiner

While the donuts are great Krispy Kreme, has never been known for it's business acumen. They had a near financial death experience a decade or two ago.

KK are soooooooooooooooooooo over rated. Great name , very average factory donut.

once they sell a donut, what do they care?

I don't recall ever getting a warranty card with a donut so that is something happens after I buy it, I can get either replacement parts or a refund...

sounds to me like they have a D- lawyer working with them and needed to do something this year to stay on the payroll

quote:

Originally posted by kramden:
KK are soooooooooooooooooooo over rated. Great name , very average factory donut.

Agreed, A little to much sugar for my taste.